Even the Snakes Are Feeling the Heat as Sizzle Continues

Call it snake weather.

At Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, another searing day of temperatures in the mid-90s Tuesday brought the slithering reptiles out of hiding, said Ray Davis, a park attendant.

“The snakes seem to be all over the place with this hot weather,” Davis said from the 7,600-acre South County park, where the mercury hit 94 degrees by noon. “I just saw a striped racer. They’ll bite you if you’re not careful.”

Meteorologists say the rest of the week should be carbon copies of Tuesday: high temperatures hovering around 90 degrees with perhaps a warm breeze and some haze in the inland areas, but little smog. It is tinder-dry, and brush areas are vulnerable to fire.

Tropical Storm Henriette is expected to bring in some high clouds, but that will only help ensure the high temperatures, said Curtis Brack, a meteorologist for WeatherData, which tracks weather conditions for The Times.

“Things are looking warm for the rest of the week,” Brack said. “There is really no cooling trend expected until the early part of next week.”

The high temperature in Orange County on Tuesday was 97 degrees in Anaheim, well above the normal temperature of 84 degrees for this time of year but below the record high of 104 degrees set in 1984, Brack said.

Other temperatures around the county Tuesday included highs of 95 degrees in Santa Ana, 94 in Lake Forest, 87 in San Juan Capistrano, 82 in Dana Point and 74 in Newport Beach, Brack said.

The large, threatening clouds on the southern horizon Tuesday dropped some light rainfall in the mountains east of San Diego, and a similar condition should continue today, Brack said.

“We are predicting a chance of thunderstorms east of San Diego and along the Arizona border, and there’s a slight chance a thunderstorm or two could pop over the Santa Ana Mountains, but they would be very isolated,” he said.

Brack attributed the heat to the high clouds from the storm and a lingering high pressure zone that is centered over California. Both prevent the typical cooling marine layer of air from forming, he said.

Although late August and early September is typically considered “smog season,” ozone levels Tuesday throughout the county were well below the federal health advisory levels, said Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

This summer’s smog season could possibly become the cleanest on record, he said.

“This very often can be the worst of smog season, but the ozone levels were low Tuesday in Orange County,” Atwood said. “If it looked really hazy, what you are seeing is particle pollution, either microscopic bits of dust or man-made pollution, which can be soot from diesel engines or pollutants from car tailpipes, which eventually coalesce.”

While Henriette should bring some clouds, it is not expected to generate large surf, except perhaps at the most south-facing beaches, which could see three- to five-foot swells late today, according to Surfline/Wavetrak, a Huntington Beach-based surf forecasting service.

At the Newport Beach Pier on Tuesday, a one- to three-foot swell out of the west was all there was to offer the late-summer surfers--except the heat.

“We’ve only got a small swell, one to three with an occasional four-footer . . . but it’s really warm today,” said lifeguard Brian Napierala.

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More Heat

Tuesday’s temperatures set no records, but still were well above the norm for the date. Forcast: more of the same for the rest of the week. Here are Tuesday’s temperatures from around the county:

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City Temperature Anaheim 97 Dana Point 82 Lake Forest 94 Newport Beach 74 San Juan Capistrano 87 Santa Ana 95

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Santa Ana Comparison

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Normal temperature 84 Recorded high (1984) 104

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Source: WeatherData